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Contract stopped on sewer line project

SALEM – The Salem Utilities Commission voted Thursday to part ways with the contractor on the Snyder Road sewer line extension project, with Chairman Bob Hodgson citing “a dissatisfaction with how the job is going.”

Rudzik Excavating of Struthers had been awarded the project last February after submitting the low bid for $1,827,449, but the notice to proceed didn’t occur until October after some issues with easements needed for the route caused a delay. After the easements were secured and a pre-construction meeting held, the contract start date for Rudzik was set at Oct. 10, giving the company 220 days to finish the work by May 17 this year.

According to the commission, the length of the sewer line extension is 7,500 feet and only 350 feet has been completed so far after more than 100 days into the contract. That leaves another 7,150 feet to go and just a little over 100 days to do it. The work began sometime in November on Newgarden Avenue to bore under the railroad tracks, requiring that section of road to be closed.

Hodgson said the city had been told the road would be reopened before Christmas but that never happened and the contractor reportedly went off the job from Dec. 23 through Jan. 5 for the holidays. As of Friday afternoon, the road remained closed, but the hope was that it would be reopened soon.

Hodgson said there have been major conflicts between the project engineer, Jon Vollnogle of Howells & Baird, and the contractor and the city has been “inundated” with change order requests.

Hodgson explained that a section of the contract allows for the city to terminate the contract without cause via a seven-day notice of separation. A formal letter was being sent to Rudzik on Friday as notification of the termination. He also said the contract had been the subject of an executive session discussion during a special meeting last week with any possible action deferred until the meeting on Thursday. The commission again went behind closed doors regarding contract negotiations for nearly 40 minutes on Thursday, then came out of executive session and took action in open session to terminate the contract.

He said the amount Rudzik will be paid based on the work that was completed will have to be determined.

The engineer will have to re-evaluate the project, redo the specifications, re-advertise and rebid the project to find a contractor to finish the work. Hodgson said the commission members have been told there are a lot of contractors looking for this type of job. When asked if the project will end up costing more, he said “in the long run, no.”

In other business, the commission heard a positive report on another major construction project for the department during an update on the Phase 2 upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant on Pennsylvania Avenue. The contractor, Stanley Miller Construction Company, started work this past summer and has been making progress.

“They’re coming along pretty good,” plant manager Jeff Zimmerman said.

He said the trusses are coming for the roof of the new administration building and the walls are already up.

Hodgson handed out some praise to the contractor on the Franklin Street water and sewer line project, Woodford Excavating, for coming back in December and doing some additional repair work to the road surface on its own. The project had been completed in the fall, but the road wasn’t in the greatest shape, so the company initially returned to do some cleanup. According to Hodgson, the company came back again last month and the commission appreciates what the company has done.

“They did a very good job. They really came through for us,” he said.

The next commission meeting will be held at 4 p.m. Feb. 11. The meetings are normally the third Thursday, but due to some scheduling conflicts, the meeting has been moved up a week and is being held on a Tuesday. The meeting in March is also going to be a week early, at 4 p.m. March 12.

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